Salt of the Earth
by DianaNemorensis
Summary: When your wealth and stature is stripped away, what do you have to offer?
1. Chapter 1

Life was good for Draco Malfoy, he was content.

He no longer had the unlimited wealth and power that had been his birth right before the war, but he had his freedom, his wand and his own apartment. It was a one room studio above a small pub in Knockturn Alley, there was barely room to swing a cat, but it was his. He'd spent some of his savings making it homely and he was happy there. The entire apartment was smaller than the bedroom he grew up in, but he felt more at home there than he had ever had at Malfoy Manor. It was short walk to Diagon Alley where he spent most Sundays running errands, the pub downstairs served a decent Firewhisky, and there was a quaint second hand bookshop across the street.

The flat was too small for a fireplace, but the pub below was connected to the Floo network, which came in handy travelling to the Ministry for work. Whilst the work he was doing was an obligation, not a choice, he had to admit, it was nice to go to sleep on his own bed, as opposed to a drafty cell in Azkaban next to his father. Following the war, he'd been put on five years' probation. The majority of his crimes had been committed whilst still underage, and remainder whilst under duress. The family's assets were seized and their home now belonged to the ministry, who had been trying to sell it since the day they took possession. Strangely, nobody had offered to purchase it, buyers looking to live in the Dark Lord's last abode were few and far between. The contents of their Gringotts' accounts had been taken as reparations. They were left with a minimal stipend to allow his mother to live in working-class comfort. She now resided in a shared accommodation with some other Pureblooded wives whose families had been stripped of their wealth. She lived in comfort, but the loss of her husband and home of two decades had hit her hard and there was a sadness in her eyes that Draco couldn't erase, regardless of how hard he tried.

Draco had been sentenced to 5 years of sponsored work at the Ministry. He didn't earn the equivalent of other employees on the same level, but was paid enough to live, and the Ministry paid a small amount into a savings account for him every month that he would receive once his five years was up. In every role, he was assigned a mentor to support him and guide his progress. The Court's thinking was that by being exposed to honest work, he would be transformed into an honest man whilst still being of use to society. There was a secondary hope that by experiencing various departments, he would find a career that he would focus his efforts on, as opposed to following the family footsteps of government manipulation and tax evasion.

Draco counted himself lucky in spite of it all. He kept his head down and got on with his work every day. He'd gained a reputation as something of a work horse. He could be found in the office until after 10pm most nights. It wasn't that he loved to work, it was simply that he had nothing better to do. The majority of his former friends had moved to the continent to start over without a black mark against their names. Every Sunday, he visited his mother for dinner and decent conversation, but Monday through to Saturday, he was at the Ministry. Most evenings, he was at his desk, pushing ahead projects he was working on. Sometimes, he was in the Ministry's library, simply enjoying reading for the sake of it. People were cordial to him, and he was invited to work functions but he didn't really have friends. He told himself that was okay, there more important things, but he did get lonely from time to time.

Working in the Ministry had been good for him, he was proud of what he had achieved and the work he had done. He'd spent a year in the Department of Magical Games and Sports. He couldn't believe his luck that his first assignment involved Quidditch. Sure, it was mostly paper pushing, and getting coffee for people, but it was paper pushing and coffee with Quidditch in the background. Following that he'd spent 6 months working for the Department for the Regulation and Control of Magical Creatures. He'd found that department surprisingly interesting and had been disappointed to have had to move on, the role had had a more physical aspect and the manual labour had been a nice change of pace from a desk based job. He'd spent a further 2 years between Magical Accidents and Catastrophes; Magical Law Enforcement; and Magical Transportation. He now found himself with 9 months remaining until the end of his probation and he was free to do as he liked. He'd been in the Department of International Magical Cooperation for 3 months and it was by far his favourite: he got to travel; he got to practise other languages and above all else, he got to see Hermione Granger every day.

Life was good.


	2. Chapter 2

Draco was first in to the small office he shared with Gabrielle Delacour, a recent Beauxbatons graduate who had won a 6 month internship following stellar exam results. Draco had to admit, Delacour was incredibly clever and well read, but she was young and naive as to the ways of the world, meaning he spent a large part of his day answering her questions and helping her with her workload. But she was good company and generally disregarded his background, having not lived in Britain during the war.

Draco set up his desk for the day, placing down the coffee he had picked up on his way in and straightening up his trinkets: jar of quills on the left hand side, plant over on the right, a picture of he and his mother on his first day at Hogwarts just towards the middle. He ran through the letters that had already been delivered that morning, deciding what needed to be prioritised for Bluemoon, the head of the department. The Bulgarian Ministry was requesting a meeting in Sofia next month to iron out the creases in a trade agreement, MACUSA was demanding stricter checks on travellers leaving the UK for the US, and the Japanese department of International Magical Cooperation was finalising plans to allow a dozen Hogwarts students to complete a summer exchange program. It was going to be a busy day, but he had another hour before Delacour would arrive so he could deal with most of this before then. He had a lunch meeting with his current mentor, Chiron to discuss his progress within the department. Chiron was his favourite teacher ever, with the sole exception of Severus Snape. He had been in the Department of International Magical Cooperation for 17 years and not only knew everything there was to know about international bureaucracy, but Chiron genuinely cared about international relations and the impact they had on long-term peace. In turn, he had made Draco passionate about it, which was nice, he hadn't felt passionate about something in a long time.

The morning flew by and at 11am, the team gathered together for their Monday morning strategy meeting. Draco was the first to arrive, then Chiron and Delacour, in deep discussion regarding her graduate programme, followed by a host of paper pushers and lobbyists pulled up the rear. Once everyone was seated Bluemoon walked in, and then there she was behind him; Granger. She floated in, smiling at everyone, greeting them after the weekend and taking her seat. Draco could acknowledge that he was nursing a mild infatuation for his former classmate, it had started whilst he was in the Department for the Regulation and Control of Magical Creatures. Granger had joined a month before he had been due to leave. They'd spent several evenings working together on new regulations and it was the most fun he'd ever had. She was funny and vivacious, Draco had felt alive when he was with her, then he left and it was over. They now shared a smile whilst passing each other in the corridors, but that was it, they had no reason for any further interaction and Draco ached for it.

Granger was the current darling of the magical world and was always off being courted by some rich wizard or another. It was Draco's deepest, darkest secret that he had a Witch Weekly subscription so he could keep up to date with her love life. He knew that on the previous Saturday, she had been on her third date that month with Oliver Wood, a recent transfer to the league-topping Tutshill Tornados. They'd spent the evening at Diagon Alley's flashiest bistro, followed by dancing into the wee hours. The spread across the pages of the magazine made the whole evening seem positively charming and above all, expensive. The paparazzi loved them together, Wood and Granger were both good-looking, both Gryffindors, both on the right side of the war. Wood was basically everything Draco was not and would never be. It was times like this that Draco missed his wealth, maybe if he could offer her these fancy dinners or buy her flowers or jewellery, he would have something to offer. As it was, he had a small flat and his sanity, and a girl like Granger deserved more from life than what a reformed Death Eater on probation could offer.

He dragged himself out his day dream and back into the meeting. Assignments were being doled out to various teams for the week. "Finally, the Bulgarian trade agreement, Malfoy and Granger, I want you to take a lead on the final negotiations" boomed Bluemoon. "You've both done some work with Magical Creatures, so it makes sense that you finalise the sections on the free movement of dragon eggs." Granger nodded to attention and then turned to Draco and smiled. Bluemoon moved on quickly assigning out projects to his team's already heavy workloads. Draco's ears were pounding, he could hear the blood rushing around his head, he was going to get to work with her again, he was going to get to feel something again.

Draco forced himself to calm down and to keep his focus. Above all else, he needed to make sure he was still indispensable to this department, if he waned to remain on after his probation. The meeting was dismissed and everyone gathered their papers and went their separate ways. As Draco was preparing to leave, he felt a hand at his elbow, his heart picked up again. Granger pulled out her schedule for the day, in an attempt to find a slot that they could meet to discuss their joined project. She seemed to have an hour after lunch, Draco informed her that he would also be free after lunch.

Of course he was, he'd burn every piece of paper on his desk, if that's what it took to be free after lunch.


	3. Chapter 3

Draco fell face first onto his lumpy bedspread. It was nearly midnight and he was exhausted. He and Granger had worked from two in the afternoon until just after six, when she had left for a dinner reservation. Draco had four and a half hours of work to make up for and stayed on to finish. They'd had a productive afternoon, drawing up a plan of attack for negotiations with the Bulgarian team the following week. They'd mostly worked, but there had been some small talk as well. Granger had started by asking how he had found his first three months in International Magical Cooperation, and sharing funny anecdotes about her first days there. He'd asked her about her last few months with Magical Creatures, lamenting that he had been moved on so soon. They worked well together, it made a nice change to be partnered with someone who shared his work ethic, as opposed to the lacklustre teams he was normally placed on. She left apologetically in the evening time, agreeing to reconvene the following morning, assigning themselves research to gather before getting back together.

He woke the next morning to an owl tapping on his small window, he arose and allowed it in, recognising the small Burrowing Owl as the one his mother shared with the other wives. He untied the scroll from his leg, allowing the bird some water before it flew away. He left the letter on his countertop for breakfast reading, making his way to the shower to wake himself up. He set the water to its hottest setting; scalding his skin was his favourite way to start the day. He shaved, parted his hair, dressed in his work robes and made himself plain toasted rye bread with cream cheese. After making his way across the kitchen with his mother's letter and that morning's Daily Prophet, he sat himself at his countertop overlooking the alley below. He enjoyed his quiet morning routine, it was peaceful, and gave him a chance to catch up with current events before taking on the world. He perused the Prophet, reading about Shacklebolt's speech at St Mungo's the day before. As he turned the pages and passed the politics section into entertainment, he stopped, there she was. Out to dinner again and next to her was Wood, this was date number four and assumedly the reason she'd left early. Draco sighed, four dates was serious, four dates was when people started throwing the word "relationship" around. Well, that was what he was led to believe, he hadn't been on a date in seven years. She looked lovely of course, classy as always in a cream silk blouse and black cigarette pants. Wood had dressed smart casual, wearing charcoal dress robes with the top buttons undone. Draco sighed to himself, he was glad she seemed happy, he hoped Wood had the common sense to treat her right.

He cleaned up his plates and scribbled a quick reply to his mother stating he'd see her on Sunday as he always did, and made his way to the office. He went through his usual routine of going through the letters that had arrived throughout the night. He and Granger had arranged to spend the majority of the day working together and would meet at 10am, giving him two hours to work on his own projects. Delacour arrived just before 9am, bringing the surprise gift of coffee and croissants, for which he was grateful. Draco helped her with a report she was writing up for Bluemoon, suggesting some edits and advising her on the structure.

Draco headed down to Granger's office for 10am, knocking on her open door before walking in. She looked up from her desk and smiled "Morning Draco, thanks for being on time, shall we get started?"

"Ready when you are" he replied as he made his way over to the shared desk they'd worked at the day before. She picked up a fat folder full of papers on her desk and made her way towards him, placing her work next to his. "I can see we've both done our homework" she laughed. "Can I get you a tea or coffee?" she offered politely. "Tea please, I've had two coffees already and it's only 10am, the department won't be safe if I have a third" he quipped. She laughed again, and it lit up the room, as she returned with two mugs of Earl Grey tea. She started opening her folder and spreading her work across the table. Watching her work, Draco couldn't help but silently wonder when she'd had time to pull this all together. She'd left the office and been on a dinner date, and judging by the look her eye and the way she moved, he suspected Wood had stayed the night. The woman clearly didn't sleep, or else she was the world's worst dinner companion and had spent the night in the bathroom making notes.

They worked for eight hours straight, not realising how much time had passed until Chiron popped his head around the door to say goodbye. Chiron's exit had alerted their stomachs to the fact that they hadn't eaten lunch. Granger turned to him, apologising "I'm so sorry, I do this all the time, I get caught up in something and forget about the world around me". He laughed in acknowledgment "I'm the same, I swear if I ever need to lose weight, just give me a dissertation to write, you won't see me for weeks!" They'd made great progress over the day and Draco didn't really want to finish up just yet. "If you need to take off, feel free to do so, I'm going to stay for a little while longer, if you don't mind me using your office?" he asked. Granger seemed to think about it for a moment, choosing her words. "Actually, I was thinking the same, I feel like I'm in the zone, but I'm also hungry – what are your thoughts on Chinese food?"

They worked for another 30 minutes, pausing for a break over takeaway containers, which they spread out on the floor. Granger kicked off her shoes and leaned against the wall as she faced him. "So, tell me, in all honesty, how are you finding International Magical Cooperation? I know you have to be here, but you seem to be doing really well."

Draco finished chewing a mouthful of chicken satay, musing about the past three months, acknowledging that she was right, as always. "In all honesty, I really like it, I feel like I could see myself here long term, but I suppose that all depends on whether or not Bluemoon would be willing to keep me on as a fully paid employee." It hurt to think about the end of his probation. On one hand, it would feel nice to be able to do whatever he liked, on the other, if no Ministry department wanted him after he'd killed himself for five years to show his worth, that would sting. Granger looked at him like she was trying to work out an ancient rune. "You can't be serious? Of course they'll want to keep you, you work harder than anyone else in the whole department, anyone with half a brain knows that, they're probably worried that you won't want to stay."

Draco gave a non-committal shrug, "Indeed I have always been of the opinion that hard work is simply the refuge of people who have nothing to do" he answered. Granger's eyes widened as though she'd just seen the devil throw a snowball. "Did you just quote Oscar Wilde? Where did you read that?" she probed. Draco put down his box of chicken and motioned her closer "I'll let you in on a secret Granger, the Ministry Library has an astoundingly thorough collection of 19th century muggle literature. Tell no one. Take it to the grave. I don't want to come in and see anyone sitting in my favourite chair" he elaborated. She smirked, delighted with this new discovery.

They cleaned away the containers, and got back to work, deciding around 1am to call it a night. They walked to the Floo connection together, discussing the progress they had made, assigning follow-up work and planning to get together again that Friday.

After flooing into the pub underneath his flat, Draco walked past Bert, the old barman, who looked at him quizzically, unaccustomed to seeing his young lodger arrive home at such a late hour. "Don't get too excited Bert, it's just work that has me out this late, nothing more" Draco announced.

Well, he supposed as he headed up to his flat, that wasn't entirely true.


End file.
